


Angel Of Death Series

by WynterUnderhill



Series: Angel Of Death Series [1]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Assassination, Assassins & Hitmen, Female Protagonist, Fights, Hunters & Hunting, Male Sidekick, Original Character(s), Werewolf
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-03-19
Updated: 2017-08-23
Packaged: 2018-10-08 01:00:24
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 22,048
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10374273
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WynterUnderhill/pseuds/WynterUnderhill
Summary: Sam and Dean Winchester have done a good job at keeping America safe from demons, witches, and other supernatural entities. But have you ever wondered what life is like for hunters across the world? Follow the lives of Ellie and Mike, British hunters hiding out in France killing all things evil - supernatural, or human. Travel with them across Europe as they still try to pick up the pieces years after the failed apocalypse, searching of the other half a weapon so powerful that both sides wanted it. A weapon so powerful that supernatural creatures still want to possess it. The weapon is safe for now, but one entity in particular is closer than ever to acquiring the weapon and will stop at nothing to get it.Universe belongs to Eric Kripke





	1. A Crusade For Hope

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ellie and Mike have travelled to Paris to assassinate the leader of a hate group, but find the city being terrorised by a werewolf.

 

**I**

 

It was as she remembered: empty and quiet.It wasn’t how it was supposed to be.The silence was deafening, almost like the buzz after a rock concert that played too loud.Ellie put a hand to her ear and her fingers came away wet and stained scarlet.A droplet rolled down and started to pool in the palm of her hand.

Dirt and stone ground into her back as she tried to get up, but she fell back, gasping.Ash fell like rain from the black cloud engulfing the sky, filling her mouth with a bitter taste that would take her months to lose.  After that day there was nothing but the taste of burnt toast, even when she breathed. 

Pain spiked in her back and neck, but she knew she had to get up, to get moving.She couldn’t be found there.The explanation would see her locked up.Where?At that time she wasn’t even sure.Ellie put her hand to her neck for her identity tags, but found them missing.They were where they were supposed to be.Where she was supposed to be.

With a hacking cough that racked pain throughout her body, Ellie was on her feet.Sweat drenched her shirt; she could feel her feet swimming in it.The heat was like the infernos of hell with the flames following her movements and licking at her soles.

The urge to look back stilled her heart: to see what she had done, the damage she had caused.Not the consequences of her actions.No.Ellie would never see what she had done to the lives of many.She didn’t need to.Why?Why would she need to when she could feel the loss for herself?And her instinct to look back, like she had done in the moment, was gone.The memory was searing into her brain.

It was in vivid detail that still surprised her, considering how hard she’d hit her head.Ellie could remember the way the building had buckled, as if under immense pressure, and then exploded.Debris - flying brick and metal from the roof - had rained down and she was lucky she hadn’t been hit.But she was a part of the debris, really: thrown back, useless to resist, and nothing more than a shattered memory.

So, this time, instead of sticking to reality, she made her own.She fought hard to keep her eyes down as she searched for her pack that had been blown out of her hands.Fumbling in the sandy dirt until her hand found the rough canvas of her pack, she finally let out a shaky breath.But she couldn’t relax.Not yet.There was something else she _had_ to find.

The contents were scattered around, all within arms’ reach, and Ellie made sure she put everything back.They had been her only chance of survival then and they would serve her now.A canteen filled with what water she could find, a box of crackers, a salt shaker, and a beautifully crafted silver knife she had stolen from her commanding officer’s body.That knife saved her life that day, and many days since.It had been coated in a rust-like crust until she could wash it a few days later when she had reached safety.With the weight of the knife in her hand, Ellie felt her shoulders ease a little, like an old friend had placed his hand in hers.

Ellie’s stomach dropped like a pit had opened in her gut.She searched for the last item, dragging her hands through the dirt in hopes of finding what she couldn’t see with her eyes.It was the most important thing that had ever been in her possession: the thing that had started all this.Ellie’s hands brushed over the top layer of dirt that scratched at her skin and embedded itself under her nails.Until she found the spot where it should have been.Ellie clawed at the dirt, raking up stones and ash.Her lungs felt full and heavy.Every breath was painful.She could feel blood run down her neck and her dry hands become wet and sticky.

And then it was there, glowing in the dark like it had its own light source.It had come unwrapped in the fall, leaving the silver tip exposed.The silver burned a dull white and Ellie’s hand stretched to touch it, hovering above the heat.The hand shook as she ran it over the object’s length.It was only half the weapon and yet it had caused so much trouble already.Ellie withdrew her hand for a moment, but she knew it couldn’t be for long.

Ellie picked up by the burnt and tattered cloth in which she’d so carefully wrapped it.The metal radiated an intoxicating heat, but she covered it with the remains of her jacket and buried it in her pack.Her motions were practised, like she’d done them a hundred times before, and yet her mind lingered.There were times she wished she’d left it buried in the dirt where it belonged.But that would’ve been too risky.There was no way she could allow anyone, or anything, to get their hands on this.

Pack shouldered, she left the fire burning behind her, destroying what remained of her home.Ellie limped in any direction, not caring if it was true to life or not.From here, she always changed it anyway.Why was a question she often asked herself.Why change it here, when she could’ve left the weapon buried under dust and ash?It’s not like anyone would find it there, not in this world.Why, when she could’ve stopped her home from being destroyed?Why, when she could’ve stopped them from finding the weapon in the first place?All Ellie could think of as an answer was this was the point where she was given a choice.All the other times she had only one option and she had taken it.

Ellie remembered how she had pulled out a map and compass and figured out the direction of the nearest town.But she didn’t bother this time.Ellie knew she would walk in this endless desert until that bodiless voiced called out to her.The voice would whisper in her ear.A breath of wind would brush passed her neck and over her collar bone, hot and damp.The voice would call until Ellie would not be able to take it any more.She would go for the silver knife in her pack and find the heated metal beneath her skin.Her hand would clench over the sharp edges, slicing patterns into her hand.But Ellie would feel no pain from the wounds, only a burst of adrenaline and the feeling of invincibility.A blinding flash of light would blind her and indescribable heat would sear through her veins.

And then she would fall to her knees, trying to regain the control the ancient weapon robbed from her.Trying to regain her senses.She hated the weapon, but she hated that voice even more.It was the voice that drove her towards the weapon. 

“Angelica…”

But not this time.Or any time after.

“Angelica…”

Instead of going towards the silver blade, her fingers undid the clasp that kept her gun secured to her belt.The weapon felt clumsy in her hands, heavy like it shouldn’t be there, but even in her dream she couldn’t trust herself with the powerful object in her pack.

And then she pulled the trigger.

*

With a deep intake, Ellie jerked up into a sitting position in her bed and tried to control her breathing.Her body was betraying her, like her mind did in her dreams, and was soaked in sweat.Ellie kicked the sheets off her and swung out of bed.The floor here, in the real world, was cold and gritty, numbing her bare feet.The slippers that sat at the foot of her bed were ignored.The cold felt good to Ellie.It was the polar opposite of what haunted her dreams and cold always felt good.

A few seconds later and Ellie was out of bed and on the floor.The grit bit into her palms and toes as she repetitively raised and lowered her body, her eyes open and staring at a crack in the once white tile. 

As she counted her press-ups, Ellie couldn’t help but think about the renovation works on her building.The important rooms were finished and now she was concentrating on a change for her own room.The last bedroom she had had been perfect; simple, but perfect.And then destroyed.This one was nothing like the previous.Paint was peeling from the ceiling, hanging flaky from years of neglect, and she was sick of the green tile that went half way up the wall.Ellie lowered her body close enough to let it brush up against the tile floor.She had often thought about having it cleaned, but with the room the way it was, Ellie could never see the point.It would only get dirty again, anyway.

Memories of her childhood bedroom filled her mind, pushing aside the ache in her chest she still felt from her dream.But, as she thought back to that room with its thick carpet and its army of teddy bears, Ellie redoubled her efforts.She continued her exercises until the burn in her muscles replaced the one in her heart.

After a hundred reps, Ellie finally allowed herself a break, only to do a hundred sit-ups.The sun had yet to rise and although there was always plenty to be done, Ellie was in no mood to face the crew.They were always hanging around.Some of them followed her, waiting for orders while others muttered as she passed, holding onto steaming cups of coffee in a bizarre parody of normalcy.

Eventually showered and dressed for a day’s travel, Ellie finally left her room and went down the corridor.She kicked a swivel chair that had a habit of rolling into the middle of the hall back against the wall.If she didn’t know better, she would’ve said she had a spirit on her hands.But she did know better.All it was was wonky floorboards, warped after years of rainfall though the once broken roof.The chair bounced from the force, stripping more plaster from the wall, and then rolled back to the middle again.But Ellie kept walking, checking every open doorway as she passed.It had been a while since she had been home and although she asked that the new recruits keep an eye on the up keep of the building, it was a task that was often forgotten.Not that Ellie minded.Her crew were often busy with research and missions of their own.

Ellie paused a fraction longer at one room, long enough to inspect it and then shut the door on it.Since she had been gone the floor and fallen away and the room had become dangerous.Like so many others, this room had fallen into disrepair and needed saving.But it would have to wait.Ellie and her team had other things to save first.

Standing by the stairwell was Mike, her most trusted recruit and second in command.He slouched against the crumbling wall, one foot on the floor and the other tucked under his body as a temporary seat.His shoulders were slumped and his hands were tucked under his arms.After all these years, Ellie still hadn’t managed to train him to stand correctly.As second in command, Mike carried some weight and authority amongst the troops and she didn’t want to jeopardise that for him.And after years of walking like he had a silver poker shoved up his arse, Ellie was grateful for the change.

“I thought you said you were going to get that door fixed,” Ellie said.She tried not to smile as she motioned to the cracked and paint peeling door beneath him.

Mike didn’t break eye contact with Ellie as she strode towards him with a stony look on her face.Years of working together was enough for Mike to realise she was joking, despite her hiding it behind her usual mask of irritation.“I did.”He smirked, his white teeth standing out against his olive skin.“The door is no longer a problem.”

“Seeing as it’s no longer in its place and therefore no longer functioning, I don’t think it can be considered a door any more.”

Mike stepped into rhythm with Ellie, easily keeping up with her long powerful strides.As they continued their conversation down the stairs, they stepped over debris lying in their path.Three steps had to be jumped to avoid falling to the floor below, which, although faster, wasn’t entirely practical.

“I’ve had other things on my mind,” said Mike, lacing his fingers together behind his back and puffing out his chest.“The renovations have fallen behind of late and making sure all habitable rooms have electricity has been my top priority, just like you ordered.And, of course, I’ve made arrangements for plumbing work to be done for you.”

Ellie raise a brow, sceptical of Mike’s interest in the building that he claimed would be burnt down in less than a year.“Really?Thank you, Mike.You’ve been most considerate.And I’ll make sure you’re rewarded for it,” Ellie added after seeing Mike’s expectant face.She knew there must’ve been a catch.

“You really don’t have to.”

“Oh, don’t I?” Ellie said.

“Not at all.I do, after all, have some knowledge in that area, so I can be of some help.Damnit, Ellie, I’m a doctor, not a plumber,” said Mike with a cocky grin.

“I knew I should never have let you watch _Star Trek_.”Ellie’s voice was deep and growling, but she had a smile on her face.No matter how much Mike annoyed Ellie, he was the only one that could make her smile.And was the only one with the privilege to see her smile.

“I’ve wanted to use that quote for ages!”Mike fisted the air.“And I’ve finally got to do it.”

Ellie groaned, but she still had a smile on her face.

“What?I thought you’d be happy I was becoming more pop savvy.”

“You know you’re not a real doctor, right?”

“I trained.”

“But did you qualify?”

“Yes, I did.It was a little rushed, I admit, and I might not have nailed everything down one hundred percent, but I am a qualified doctor.”

“I haven’t nailed everything down.I don’t know everything a hundred percent,” Ellie mimicked.“How reassuring.”

Mike raised his arms in defence, like she had struck him with physical blows.“Hey!Things came up!I got a little busy.”From Ellie’s smile, Mike knew she was joking.She was the only person alive who knew his history and he completely understood her dubiousness to his degree.“Besides, I’m the closest thing you have to a doctor, so you had better respect me.”

He puffed out his chest again and tapped at his expanded peck.It was a habit he had pick up after killing neo-Nazi co-leader, William ‘Wild Willy’ James, in a one-on-one bare knuckle fight.It wasn’t much of a victory considering Mild Willy, as they ended up calling him, weighed about a hundred pounds less than Mike and no fighting experience under his belt.But Mike was proud of his kill and gathering of information, leading to the capture of various other group members.

“I’ll respect you when you respect me,” Ellie returned, the corner of the mouth twitching up.

They rounded the last section of the stairs and went out into the main hallway and onto the first floor.They went down the remaining steps by the main staircase to show authority over whoever was in the entrance hall at the time.

Below them stood a short man with nonexistent muscles, standing in the correct fashion by the door.He was waiting for them to get to him so that he could open the front door for them and lock up when they had gone.He was one of two new recruits and Ellie found that he was certainly the most obedient of the two.The new recruit gave them a thin lipped smile as they passed and closed the door after them.He would be waiting for them to return, standing in his post like a good soldier.

“Everything packed and ready to go?”

“Yes, boss.Your chariot awaits.”

Ellie nodded and strode towards her vehicle of choice for this particular mission.It was a nondescript, five door saloon with no markings other than mud that had painted the sides.The boot was open and her black overnight bag placed on top of a padlocked metal case.There were two of these cases in total: one black and containing necessary electronic equipment, and the other silver, containing mission specific weaponry. 

“Everything appears to be in order,” said Ellie with another nod.She had checked the cases the night before and locked them with a key that had been on a chain around her neck while she slept.Not that her team would dare steal or tamper with anything in the cases anyway.

Ellie turned to eye up the other new recruit standing behind the car.Completely ignoring recruits was a trick Ellie used to make sure they knew their place, but now Ellie wanted to check this one.According to Antonia, this one had had caused problems below stairs and had veered dangerously towards disobedience.Ellie wanted to know how the new girl would hold up to some questions.

“Another new face.”Ellie paced a circle around the recruit, looking her up and down, eyeing her wiry frame.“And where did we pick up this one?” she asked over the woman’s shoulder.Ellie didn’t even look the woman in the eye.

“Berlin.Kicked up a bit go a fuss to begin with, but eventually complied.”Mike’s mouth curved into a cruel smile.“She knows the risks of disobedience, so I wouldn’t worry about losing her so soon.”

The recruit remained silent, but she shifted her weight from one foot to the other, her brown eyes boring into Mike like hell fire.

“Good posture,” Ellie said, placing her hands on the new recruit’s shoulders and pushing down.“Good strong back.No back chatting, which is surprising from what I’ve heard.If it wasn’t for that, I’d seriously consider taking her to Paris with me.”

“Instead of me?”Mike put and hand to his heart in mock shock as the recruit’s lips twisted into a smile.“But what about the moonlit dinner in front of the Eiffel Tower?And you promised me a stroll along the river.”

“Yes, but she’d do good in a fight.”Ellie grinned manically, resting her chin on her hand still on the woman’s shoulder.

Mike let out a laugh that was little more than the expelling of breath with a cocky lift of one side of his mouth.“Yeah, but remember: I was the first one you recruited - I have sentimental value - and I’m now your lieutenant.I get a few, let’s just say, Officer’s perks.”He stepped closer to the recruit and leaned towards Ellie’s face.“I guess you could say that I’m your personal guards.Or that,” he licked his lips, “I’m your favourite.”

Ellie laughed into the recruit’s ear, causing the woman to jump back, kicking into Ellie.

“Oh,” Ellie breathed into the woman’s ear.“A little jumpy are we?”She started massaging the recruit’s stiff shoulders.“Is it because we’re nervous, or because we’re desperate for some action?”

Laughing, Ellie took a few steps back and then strode in front of the woman.Once there her face immediately fell; all humour left her face in a second.Confused, the woman looked to Mike, whose smiling face had also fallen to one of seriousness.

“So,” said Ellie.“Do you want to see some action?Do you want to give those legs a much needed stretch?Do you want to get out and give someone, somewhere, a bad day?”

With her face flushed with excitement and passion evident in the recruit’s voice, she said, “Yes, Captain.”

“Too bad,” said Ellie in a high, innocent voice.And then strolled to the passenger side door and flung herself in, slamming it shut behind her.She often left Mike alone with the recruits who were particularly troublesome for Antonia.He loved breaking in new recruits.His days as the newbie were obviously forgotten or no longer cared for.Mike’s advantage was, all those years ago, it was only him and Ellie.Now it was them and twenty others.

Plus relinquishing her duties to Mike gave the recruits an idea of how busy and important Ellie was.She pulled out her phone and pretended to be engrossed in texting and other things high ranking people did, but was really playing _Candy Crush_.When she looked back in the rear view, she could see the recruit’s eyes black with hatred.

Ellie busied herself with her games when Mike stepped into the new recruit’s personal space, face inches from hers.

“What?Did you really expect to go out after being here a few days.Hey!Look at me when I’m talking to you!There are those who were just like you a few years ago, still waiting for their first mission.Oi!I said look at me when I’m talking to you.”Mike grabbed the recruit’s chin and yanked it towards his face.“If you’ve got a problem following orders, there’ll be hell to pay,” he said, his lips inches away from hers.“You see our boss,” he said, moving the recruit’s head in the direction of Ellie and then back to him.“She doesn’t like disobedience, but her boss.Well, he likes it even less.Capiche?”

The recruit didn’t answer.Her eyes were still as black as thunder clouds.

“Cat got your tongue?”Mike laughed into her ear, breathing hot, damp air over it, over her neck and down her spine.“I said ‘capiche’?”

The answer came through gritted teeth.“Yes.”

“Yes, what?”

“Yes, _sir_.”

“And what’s my rank?”

“Lieutenant, sir.”

“Making me what?”

“A higher rank, sir.”

“Good little soldier.”Mike let her chin go and gently slapped her cheek.“That’s a good little soldier.”

He gave the boot a quick once over, not really checking anything but moving things around anyway, just to get a rise out of her.But she stood completely still, not blinking, looking in the direction of the building.He slammed the boot shut.

Putting himself between the recruit and the main entrance, Mike said, “Off you pop.Ah-ah-ah!”He held out a hand, forcing the recruit to stay a moment longer.“Only use the back door from now on, soldier, just like everybody else.I don’t want to have to go buy you new boots after you’ve out grown yours so soon.”

With her eyes still dark with anger she barged passed Mike, but he refused to budge, or even show if she had an effect on him.Instead he wiggled his fingers in a patronising wave and she stormed away, heading in the direction of the back door.

“On second thoughts,” he called after her, “just stay where you are.No, exactly where you are,” he added when she began lowering her foot that had been raised in mid-step.“Yep.That’s perfect.Now stay that way until someone says otherwise.Make that Antonia!Until Antonia says otherwise.I hope for your sake that she can tear herself away from that computer of hers, otherwise you’re in for a long night.”

With the new recruit balancing on one leg and a satisfied grin on his face, Mike joined Ellie in the car. 

“What took so long?” Ellie asked when he started the engine.She already knew why, having spied on the incident through the rear view, but he’d only give her a running commentary on everything that had happened like it had been his finest achievement otherwise.

“Just putting the new recruit in her place.Wouldn’t want her rebelling, would we?”

Ellie took her eyes off her phone for a moment with an amused look on her face.They’d lost recruits before and both of them knew it was no big deal.They would always find new ones.They had done it in the past when a group of five had decided they’d had enough and had tried killed both Mike and Ellie.

The car descended the drive, evergreen trees flanking both sides of the car and blocking out the sun.The brick driveway was pitted and rough, causing the car to shudder and lurch.Their vehicles’ suspensions and Mike’s goolies would be overjoyed when the bricks were finally ripped up in favour of a more inconspicuous and smoother dirt road.

“So, that fella of yours is studying in Paris, or something.You going to see him while you’re in town, or is this a time where we avoid him like the plague?”

Ellie slumped her shoulders and gave an exasperated sigh.“I have to keep working on him and make sure he’d not going off with someone else.”

“What happens if he pops the ‘big’ questions?” asked Mike, taking both hands off the steering wheel to do quotation marks.

“I’ll do whatever I have to do to get the artefact.It’s too powerful to be lying around some rich guy’s house gathering dust.”

Mike’s forehead furrowed.“And you’re certain he’s got it?”They had shown both their faces to the guy and if he didn’t have the artefact it would be a complete waste of years of research.And it would jeopardise their anonymity for nothing.

Ellie tapped open her photo gallery on her phone.“He sent this to me,” she said, showing a picture of a plain sword hilt and half a blade.It shone like new with the flash, but it was obvious what it was.Set behind thick glass, it sat there, taunting him.

“You’re a hundred percent sure that his family owns it?That it’s in their house?”Mike wanted to know.He had to know.Everything had lead them to this moment, this family.Years of research and thousands of missions together.It had been as bumpy as the road they were going down, which was more brick dust than actual road.It twisted and turned, gnarled trees obscuring the woods behind them.It was rough and uneven, but it lead home eventually.

Mike took his eyes off the road again to take a closer look at the screen.Shining bright, Mike could see that the break looked identical to the half that had already crossed their path and was hidden away from the world.

He tore his eyes away from the phone and concentrated on the road.This part wasn’t particularly hard to manoeuvre and he’d been doing it since their last headquarters had blown up, but he couldn’t look at the sword any more.It was so close, almost within their grasp.And then it would be over.Ellie, he knew, would never go back to the life she had left.Her decisions had made it so that she could never go back.This had been her life for nine years and it had become his too.Without it life would be so boring, so pointless.Perhaps they would even part ways and this, whatever they had, would be over as well.

“Yeah.That’s gotta be it.”

Mike clenched his jaw.He didn’t want this to be the end.He wanted the whole sword to be in their possession, but he didn’t want moments like these to become a thing of the past.Moments like these made him feel human again, like he had felt before he had left.His own decisions had lead him down this path, leaving his family and friends behind.And his previous life.

Next to him, Ellie plugged her phone into the stereo and put her music on shuffle.Guitars strummed instantly through the speaker and she wondered how long it would take for Mike to complain about the noise.He always called her music ‘noise’, saying that the tune couldn’t be heard over the drums and electric guitar.But he was lost in his own thoughts.She could see it in the way he had sat up straight, brown hair centimetres from the roof of the car, and how his hands gripped the steering wheel. 

Yawning, Ellie shifted in her seat to look out the window, her finger tracing symbols in the condensation from her breath.She refrained from rubbing her eyes in an attempt to wake herself up.Not only did it not work, but it would cause her make-up to rub.

Throughout school, Ellie had refrained from wearing make-up.She’d never seen the point, even though she’d been told it would accentuate her dark hair and eyes.That had been true.When the bruises of many sleepless nights had started to show around her eyes, she looked paler than she had ever done before.And accentuate her features they did.Her hair looked blacker than then night and her eyes as hollow as a skull’s.Staring at them in the mirror, she realised they had to go.So Ellie had got some black camouflage paint and circled her eyes in it until she had gone out to get some eye liner and shadow.Ellie couldn’t have the crew think she wasn’t sleeping and wasn’t able to lead them.She couldn’t allow any bad guys she came across to think she was weak, or haunted by her past.Make-up was a quick and temporary fix.

Mike came out of his trance when they came to a particularly nasty curve in the road with a steep drop down one side.There was a barrier to stop them from falling, but he couldn’t be too careful: he was carrying precious cargo.

After his expert manoeuvring, he turned to see Ellie still staring out the window, now looking down at the drop.There was a part of him that wanted to ask her what she was thinking, but he would never get a truthful answer.So he did the professional thing and stuck to the mission.

“Okay then.So where are we staying this time?His flat, or some posh place that I could _really_ get used to?You know, with hot towels and noncommittal maids.”

Ellie raised a brow and shook her head.Instead of telling him that the maids were not there for his amusement, she replied with: “Just keep your hands to yourself.”

“Great.I can do posh.”

“Not with that accent.”

“I used to do posh.”

Ellie smirked.“Not that it matters if you can or can’t.You’re only the bodyguard, so you’re not supposed to be some posh git with more money than sense.”

“ _Only_ her bodyguard, _only_ her bodyguard, she says.It’s my job to keep you safe, like stopping a speeding bullet.Treat me with respect, or I’ll be sluggish on purpose,” he said with a laugh.

“You know you could never do that.”

“Yeah?Try me.”

“You know you’d be compelled to save me, or suffer the consequences.Mwahaha!”

“Yeah.So I would,” said Mike with a small tremor in his voice.

“It doesn’t matter anyway.On this trip,” Ellie said, pulling out her engraved silver knife from her boot, “I’ll be the only one shooting anyone.Have no fear, _mon ami_ , my target isn’t you.’

“So, who is it?We haven’t had a chance to talk since I got back and it’s just plain rude to keep me in the dark for so long.And don’t say it’s because I’m ugly!You know damn well that this is one helluva fine body.”

With a satisfied grin, Ellie picked up her phone from where she’d dumped it in her lap and opened up a note page.“Raynaud Édouard Bouchard, 43.Stands just 5’7…”

“Short arse.For a guy, that is,” Mike added after receiving a glare from Ellie.

“Weighs 12 stone.He is the current top dog of the _Parti national-socialiste français_ , a neo-Nazi organisation based in France and Belgium.”

“Skip the political crap.We’ve been hunting these bastards long enough to know they’ve got what’s coming to them.”

Ellie paused and watched Mike clench his jaw and his knuckles whiten.“Totally.Politics is boring anyway.

“Anyway, he’s wanted in several countries across Europe for inciting hate and grievous bodily assault.Police tied him to the murder of a Jewish primary school teacher in Munich in 2006 at the start of his criminal career, but court proceedings couldn’t go ahead due to lack of evidence.Despite this, we have evidence that the arsehole deserves to die, so we’re gonna put a bullet in his brain.”

Mike unclenched his jaw enough to choke out, “I bloody hate Nazis.”

A hand reached out as if to touch his shoulder, but in turned into a punch in the arm.“I know, soppy old thing.

He shook his head and let his chin fall for a moment.“After what the Resistance did in the war.I didn’t think a single Frog would defect to _them_.”The last word came out as a snarl and Mike closed his eyes agains the rage filling him.He a few meditative breaths and then focused back on the road, his fingers relaxing on the steering wheel.

“And, as much as I’d like you to take the shot, your emotions could cause you to lose focus on the task and cause others to get hurt.”Mike nodded, not daring to take his eyes off the road.“But you can take that aggression out on his flat,” Ellie continued.“I want you to go over there and see what you can dig up on any other members, meeting places, or attack locations.And, while you’re at it: trash the place. 

Mike grinned.“On it.”

“And any valuable items, or money comes our way.”

“Shouldn’t we donate it some Jewish charity, or something?”The look on Mike’s face was sincere.Besides, he never joked about giving to charities, it wasn’t his thing.Usually the more money they got, the better felt about himself and their job.

“Well sure.But we do need some cash.Petrol ain’t cheap.”

Mike shrugged.“So, half and half?”

“Deal.”

“He will have a lot of information on his phone.How are we going to get it?It’s not like you can just show up after killing the guy?”

“I have a contact who’s willing to help for a little cash.”

“And is he under your control?”

When Ellie didn’t answer, Mike’s head fell to the hand that had just changed gear.He smoothed out the creases on his forehead.“This is bad.”He hit the wheel with the palm of his hand.“This is _very_ bad.One day you’re going to get caught.And then what happens?Everyone will end up knowing your face.”Mike clutched at the wheel with both hands again.“And what if it’s worse than that?What if you get killed by a deal that didn’t turn out the way _you_ want?What are we going to do?Without you, we’re stuck.Forever.”

“Is this rant over?” Ellie snorted.She bit at the dirt under her nails and stared out of the window.They were now on flat ground, passing by the French countryside.She could see for miles around in every direction and she sunk in her seat, putting both feet on the dashboard.

“No.Take your feet off the dash.We need the car looking presentable when we arrive.”

Ellie slid her muddy boots down the dashboard, the dried mud chipping and falling onto the carpet, causing Mike to moan.

“And don’t think we’re done,” he said, his knuckles whitening.“We need to talk about this recklessness, Ellie.If you’re not careful, you’re gonna get yourself killed and we need you.You’re the only one who can get the sword and this is - the - most - important - thing,” he said, punctuating his statement by whacking his hand against the steering wheel.

“Oh God, shut up!”Mike flinched at Ellie’s harsh words.“Look,” she continued, “I’m not going to get caught.I’ve used this guy before and I know he’s an arsehole, but he’s the best chance of getting the phone without one of our guys having his or her face plastered all over the French news.No, he’s not trustworthy.But guess what, _mon ami_?Neither am I!The moment things aren’t going my way, I’ll deal with it.”

With Mike admitting defeat with his silence, Ellie slouched into her chair and opened up her photo gallery.Staring up at her was Bouchard’s face and she studied every detail.The large widow’s peak, his dark eyes, and his large Roman nose.It was a photo taken from a security camera in his favourite Parisian restaurant where he would be having lunch at one o’clock the following day.The photo was fuzzy, but it was enough for her to study his features and learn them.

These were things that were hard to change.

These were things Ellie couldn’t wait to get in her sight.

Dropping her phone in her lap, Ellie slipped down further in her seat, her knees touching the dash.“Wake me up when I need to change,” she instructed.

 

 

 

 

**II**

 

She had tried ignoring it before, but it was only a matter of time before the memory hit her full force, leaving her on the floor and winded. 

It started with the building shrinking in on itself and flames dancing from the windows.Black smoke blocked out the sunlight.Then the building was engulfed in flames.The heat was thick and oppressive: choking.It took all Ellie’s might to stay standing, to not duck beneath the cloud of black smoke billowing out of the building. 

And then there was the heat. 

Burning hot heat waved over Ellie with a force she could’ve only imagined before.It knocked her off her feet when the first explosion sounded.The air left her body like it was an entity in a hurry to leave.Instinctively she drew a breath, only to breathe in the heavy black smoke.She expelled it with a dry and hacking cough.

The pack that had been in her hand had been blown out of her grip.Ellie wondered what it would’ve been like if she hadn’t got up and found it.She would be dead, she knew that, but wouldn’t the artefact been buried by dust and ash?Wouldn’t some government official have found it and locked it away behind glass, or donated it to the British Museum?

The ringing in her ears brought back the fear of becoming deaf.It was a thousand times worse than the concert she’s snuck into when she was sixteen and had got so drunk she couldn’t even remember who she’d gone to see.Not that the band had really mattered.It was the atmosphere Ellie had wanted to experience.And the booze.

But this ringing had been different.It had been caused by loud music and screaming fans, not a series of explosions that shook the earth Ellie lay on.

Eventually, however, it had healed.

The ringing in Ellie’s ears stopped suddenly.There wasn’t a sound except for her own laboured breathing.In this world, healing happened at a faster rate, but it still unnerved Ellie.The sky above her cleared to a cloudless blue.The ground beneath her felt softer than it have ever done before.

Ellie’s body tensed, waiting for the sound she knew would come.It always came.

“Angelica…”

Breath rushed over Ellie’s shoulder and neck, causing her skin to pimple, but she resisted the urge to shudder.

Suddenly she was five years old again in the woods around her parents’ house.Her favourite doll was sat against a rock and a slingshot tight in her hands.A person moved behind her bending low and whispered in her ear.“Come on, Angie, darling.You’ll have to take a shot sooner or later.Sooner or later you’ll have to hurt the ones you love.” 

The hand pulling the slingshot back tensed and then released.The rock flew through the air and landed in front of the doll.It bounced a few times and hit it on the left.

Ellie repeated this until her accuracy had improved and the doll’s head lay on the ground next to it’s body.

“Good girl, Angie.” 

*

The mattress beneath her was soft and springy, nothing like she was used to, and the blankets warm; too warm.The duvet sheets were sticking to her slick body, restricting her movements.She flung them aside and let her feet sink into the unfamiliar, luscious, and soft carpet.From the moonlight shining through the hastily drawn curtains, Ellie could see the strange wooden panels below silken wallpaper.The curtains that usually kept the night out matched the drapes around the fourposter and thick duvet.It wasn’t the crumbling walls of her building that were warded and protecting.It was a place posh people thought was safe.But Ellie knew otherwise. 

The only thing Ellie would admit to liking was the plush carpet her toes could scrunch into.And she’d only admit to that under pressure and it was only because it was a lot easier on her hands when she started her push ups.Ellie let herself have a small moment of luxury, enjoying the way her fingers dug into the deep, soft carpet.And then she started moving her body in quick, sharp movements.Her breathing remained steady, even though room that was hotter than she was used to.A warm sweat started to bead on her flesh, so unlike the cold ones she often had in her damp and draughty bedroom.But this room was nicely heated with warm water coming from the shower.Actual curtains hung from the window, not the tatters of fabric that Ellie couldn’t even identify.

After Ellie had reached a hundred press ups, she stopped and stepped into the shower in the spacious bathroom next door.She kept the pressure high and the temperature low.The icy water caused goosebumps to cover and the hair on her back to raise.Ellie clenched her jaw to keep her teeth from chattering.She deserved this.She deserved to be cold.

It was still dark when Ellie dried and dressed.She put on her favourite black hoodie, stuffed a knife in her cargo boots, and another in her pocket.

Then she went out for some fun.

 

 

 

 

**III**

 

The moon came out from where it was hiding behind clouds, threatening rain, lighting up the path in a park Ellie didn’t recognise.She stayed close to the perimeter, her fingers lightly tracing the metal fencing as she ran, crouched, after her prey.The wind carried her scent away from him, so he had no idea he was being tailed.

He was brazen in his movements, either a rookie mistake or cockiness.Ellie presumed the latter.There had been a slew of unusual animal attacks in Parisian parks for the last few months.Ellie regretted that she had neither time nor resources to do anything about it.It didn’t matter.He was going to die now.

His steps were more like leaps as he bounded through the park and he could go much faster than Ellie ever could.It was a speed those ignorant of such things would think impossible.

Ellie hoped she would catch him before he caught dinner.

And then there was a scream, loud and clear, piercing the peaceful night.

Forgetting caution and Ellie started full out sprinting.Her legs pumped hard and fast, causing her boots to pound into the ground.The man was out of sight, but the victim was dead.She knew that the moment the screaming stopped.A swipe of a sharp claw or two would be enough to kill the person, effectively silencing them.Ellie cursed herself for not jumping him before, when he’d come out of a back alley.It would’ve been public and she would’ve been seen, but at least no one else would have died at his hands.There would be less blood on her own hands.

She rounded the fountain that sprayed a thin mist of water over her and found the scene.The pavement was darkened, not with water, but with blood from the victim that Ellie couldn’t see.From the pocket of her hoodie, Ellie pulled out a switchblade.She had no qualms stabbing the monster in the back of its neck.She flicked the blade out of its hilt.

The monster’s head raised and then he was on her.The switchblade was thrown from her hand as she fell onto the concrete.

The monster tried to slash at her throat, but she caught its wrist.Blood dripped off the claws and landed on her chin and neck.Another taloned hand rose and narrowly missed its mark when Ellie grabbed it and dragged it away from her neck.The monster howled in rage, bloodied teeth glinting in the full moon.

Ellie yanked its arms out.If it had been a dog, his ribs would’ve snapped and pierced a vital organ.But, despite the teeth, this monster was still more human than dog.

The monster was kneeling over her and lunged forwards to take a bite out of her.The sudden shift meant Ellie could free up one of her legs with a quick wiggle and bring it up to the monster’s balls - hard.It reared up, giving Ellie a chance to pull both legs out from under him and reach into her boot.The silver blade glistened in the moonlight as Ellie sliced into the monster’s chest.It howled, bringing a clawed hand down.With another quick swipe of the blade, the monster’s hand was forced from Ellie’s neck and the claws found the taut flesh of her abdomen instead.

The hand gripping her knife tight as she pushed it up under the ribs, forcing the blade into the monster’s body.The howling stopped, replaced by a hallow gurgling as the creature tried to breathe.

Long, curved nails clawed at Ellie’s wrist.They were weak, almost gentle movements, like he was caressingher hand.Keeping him steady with one hand, Ellie wrenched the blade from his body, making him tip backwards, but Ellie’s fingers twisted into his woollen jumper.She wanted him steady to avoid dropping her knife as she plunged it deep into his chest.She got him right between two ribs and deep into a lung.

His cough was wet.

With another tug, the blade was out of his body again.To make sure that he stay dead, Ellie raised the knife to his neck, and drew the blade from one side to the other.At first the slit was thin, like a paper cut, barely even bleeding, but you sure as hell knew it was there.And then the faint red line thickened, the gushing blood pushing open the wound. 

Within seconds, the monster’s head had fallen forward, his dead eyes staring into hers.

Still holding the creature in place above her, Ellie watched both disgusted and fascinated as the monster’s face reverted back to how it should have been.The red tinged eyes turned green and his thick blond sideburns, pink from the blood of his victim, receded back to his hairline.His strong teeth, stained from his own life force, shrunk back into the gums.

He was definitely dead.

And all this had taken no longer than a minute.

Ellie pushed the monster off her and unfurled her legs, pushing herself up.She winced and looked down to see her hoodie torn and blood seeping through four long scratches on her stomach.It wasn’t deep and the pain was nothing more than a sting.It was something she should fix herself when she got back to her hotel room and not have to ask for Mike’s help.Sure, she’d love to see his jealous face when he found out she’d gone on a hunt without him, but it wasn’t worth the lecture.

She would heal without Mike even knowing.Her hoodie, however, was ruined.She couldn’t even patch it.

Ellie bent to check the victim’s pulse and, after finding nothing, picked up her pocket knife.A little disappointed she had to kill the creature with her bigger knife, she put both away and started running.A voice called after her, but she ignored it, pumping her arms faster.She really didn’t want to have to explain how she happened to be covered in blood around two dead bodies, one mauled.That would cause problems for the main reason she was in Paris.Creatures like him were secondary, even though France was rife with them. 

The woman she was about to become would lose everything if her true self was revealed.

Once far enough away from the scene, Ellie regretted not picking the monster’s pocket, but she knew she would’ve felt guilty.After all, she didn’t know if he actually wanted to become a werewolf.

* 

The sky has started to shift from black to grey when Ellie returned to the hotel.Not wanting to be seen entering with her clothes ripped and covered in blood, Ellie was glad she had a back up plan.

She went to the side of the building where there was a gutter pipe and climbed it with gritted teeth.She could feel it buckle under her weight, but she kept scaling the building until she had reached her floor.Then Ellie pressed her back to the wall and crept across the ledge to her room.Usually she faced the wall so that her fingers had some grip, but she didn’t want to stain the cream bricks.

She had left the window into the bathroom open an inch, enough to put her fingers under and pull it open.Then she jumped in.

Ellie peeled off her hoodie; it suckered to her right arm and needed a more forceful tug than normal to pull off.She threw the cloth into the bath where it landed with a squelch.

Leaning on the sink, Ellie studied her face.She hadn’t put eye shadow on before she’d gone out for the evening.The natural black around her eyes illuminated her pale face.Before Ellie went out for the day, she would have to put eye shadow on.For that night, however, she would have to look up make-up tutorials so that she could hide the bruises behind a layer of foundation.“The things women do for men,” Ellie whispered to her reflection.

Her right arm and shoulder were stained pink with splashes up her neck to her ear.It had happened when she had sliced into the werewolf’s jugular, but she couldn’t remember feeling it happen.There was a rip in her grey tank top.Four strips of cloth hung from the tattered shirt and hollow wounds weeped behind it.Some antiseptic cream and a bandage was all she needed: no stitches were necessary.

There was absolutely no need to tell Mike about her little night out.He would call her a fool.He would say that she had had no thought for the future and give her another lecture like the one she’d got in the car.She knew she would deserve it and that it was all true, but she didn’t mean wanted to hear it.

Ellie stepped into the shower and washed the blood off.It swirled down the drain and she watched it go.It was always so easy to wash away.

After she had cleaned off the evidence, she dressed her wound and collapsed onto the bed.She was hoping for at least two hours uninterrupted sleep before the task she had been paid to do.

 

 

 

 

**IV**

 

He strode in with a smug look on his face, his skinny chest puffed out to extenuate muscles he didn’t have.He pushed the door, held open by a young and trembling doorman, into a potted plant that toppled over.The ceramic pot crashed to the red wood floor with a gentle showering of soil.

The patrons all turned in his direction and immediately dropped their eyes to there plates.Some complained about the disruption to their dinner partners; one man commented about it down his phone; one man even signalled for a waiter, demanding an explanation. The waiter apologised and, having nothing more to say, drifted off towards the kitchen.And all that time, the new arrival stood with his legs apart and his hands shoved into his pockets. 

“ _Ah, Monsieur Bouchard, c’est un plaisir de vous retour avec nous bientôt_ ,” said the maître d’.His fingers knotted in front of him, then came apart, and slipped them behind his back.

Bouchard said nothing, but strode towards his table, which had been left empty for him.He flopped at the table as the chair was pulled out for him, and placed his mobile on the crisp white table cloth.In the middle there was a bouquet of the restaurant’s signature red roses in a crystal vase.

The maître d’ offered the wine list, but was ignored.Bouchard flicked the petals off the roses until the maître d’ had disappeared to get the usual.

While Bouchard slouched waiting, he pressed his thumb to his phone's sensor and started going through his messages.He didn’t have many.He didn't want too many people having his number to give to the police.If they were caught starting a fight in public, the first thing the police would look at would be their phone: to make sure that it wasn’t gang related.Bouchard shook his head as he read about the latest imbecile in police custody.It was a day before the protest Bouchard had organised and now the police were going to be everywhere.Bouchard replied to the e-mail, telling his contact to have the idiot beaten when he got out of prison.A mistake like this could not go unpunished.

The maître d’ returned with a bottle of the finest wine in his hands.As he removed the cork, Bouchard clicked his mobile’s screen off and placed it in reach on the table.

And then there are a faint popping sound, like a cork flying from the neck of a bottle.

Bouchard, one moment with a cocky smirk on his lips, slumped in his seat, head lolling onto his left shoulder.The side of his face had exploded, leaving one eye socket gaping, empty.

A hand reached down and plucked the phone off the table, the cloth now stained with scarlet spots.The maître d’ placed the phone into his pocket, took a deep breath, and screamed.Diners turned to see the maître d’ backing away from the restaurant’s prestigious window table.He crashed into a table and spilled coffee over a disgruntled patron.

And then everyone was on their feet, running towards the doors and screaming.

In the chaos, the maître d’ slipped away unnoticed.

 

 

 

 

**V**

 

“Hello, baby,” Ellie whispered and then pulled the trigger.The rifle bucked in her hands, but she stayed steady.Ellie took a moment to enjoy the way Bouchard’s body slumped at his table and to see the maître d’ pick up the dead man’s mobile.He flashed it to her before pocketing it and disappearing into the crowd. 

Ellie fell back from her crouched position.She smacked her palm against the ridge and pulled herself up, taking her weapon of choice with her.Her muscles burned from the movement, her arms still tense from steadying the rifle.She dismantled her gun at speed, and put the pieces back in their foam beds and put the case in her pack.She threw the backpack over her shoulder as she ran to the door that lead her off the roof.

Black hoodie pulled down low, Ellie made her way through the building, head down and her hands in her pockets.She wore baggy trousers and a jumper she'd borrowed from Mike.It hid her form and made her unremarkable.Her face was well hidden, so when the police checked the security cameras, no one would know who it was.No one would be able to tell if she was male or female.It wasn't a perfect job, but it had been cobbled together last minute when Bouchard had cancelled his flight to London to stop off at his favourite restaurant.

Ellie met no one on the stairs and exited the main building through the rear entrance, which lead to a deserted backstreet.As she strolled away, she called her employer.“It’s done,” she said.

There was taping on the other end of the phone.“Your money has been sent,” said a man’s voice and the phone clicked off. 

From the alley, Ellie made her way to the nearest park.She made a detour to pass by the river to throw the sim card in and then continued on her way.Once there, Ellie found the biggest tree and waited.She stood in the shadows, her still hidden, leaning against the tree.

“I have what you asked for,” came a voice in perfect English, but with a thick French accent.The maître d’ stepped around the tree and into view with Bouchard’s phone held between his thumb and forefinger.“It must be important, or you would never have asked me to get it for you.”He smirked, taking a small step back.“Perhaps I should keep a hold of it and sell it to the highest bidder.This Bouchard bloke is well hated, so I could probably get a good price for it.”

Ellie smiled back at him.From where he was standing, he could only see her chin and the sneer caused him to take another step back.“But we had a deal.”

“You should know better than to make a deal with the devil.”The maître d’s eyes turned black as his lips twisted up.

This time Ellie laughed.“You’re not the devil, not even close.You the lowest ranking demon there is, going after a few odd jobs for some kicks.”Ellie pushed away from the tree, hand out stretched, and the smiled fell from her face.“Now hand me the phone so I can pay you and you can be on your merry way.”

The demon thought for a moment.“But what if I want to talk to your boss?”

“Not happening.Our client confidentiality code is…”

“No, not your _client_.Your _boss_.The one who calls himself the Angel of Death.”

“How’d you hear about him?” Ellie asked, keeping her tone even.

“News travels fast amongst us guns for hire and yet no one’s ever see him.We’re getting curious.Why don’t we get to see him?Where’s he hiding?”

“Who says he’s hiding?” said Ellie.“He could be in plain sight, walking the street of Paris, like every other _Pierre, Paul, et Jacques_.Or maybe he likes his anonymity.”

“I want to talk to him.It’s because of him my colleagues are dead.”

“Then they should’ve stuck to the deal.”

“They were recruited!”

“Then they should’ve followed the rules.They knew the consequences when they signed up.Everyone does.Disobedience cannot go unpunished and their punishment, regrettably, was death.I’m sorry for your loss.Now hand me the phone.”Ellie took a step closer.

The maître d’ looked down at the phone in his hands.“You can tell the Angel of Death that if he wants it, he’d better come and get it himself.”He slid the phone back into his pocket.

Shaking her head, Ellie said, “Not good enough.”She leapt forward and grabbed the man by his lapels, giving him a sharp head butt before he could defend himself.The maître d’ stumbled and then fought back with a thrust to the soft part of her abdomen.

Ellie bit her lip to keep from groaning in pain: the punch had caught her by surprise and left her open to attack.She could feel the skin around the scab pull as she moved back, deflecting a blow coming at her head, and open anew. 

Ellie swung out a foot and kicked both of his legs out from under him, and he fell with a thud to the ground.If he had been a normal guy, the fall would’ve knocked the wind out of him.Instead his eyes darkened and he pounced, pushing Ellie backwards so that her hood fell off.She lifted her head with her lips curving into a sneer.

“And to think, I was going to let you live.”

“You can’t kill me, bitch.Demons can’t be killed. 

Ellie raised a brow and said saucily, “That so, _mon ami_?”

The maître d’ punched at her again, but when he failed he tried to get his hands around her throat.But Ellie lifted a leg and kicked him in the gut.He stumbled back, a confused look on his face at the power of the woman in front of him possessed.Ellie took this moment to flick out her hand.A silver blade to slide out of the baggy sleeve of her hoodie.He didn't have another chance to sneer that nothing could kill him.Ellie thrust forward, digging the blade deep into his neck.

As he grasped at his throat, Ellie whispered into his ear, “Hello, baby,” and pushed the blade deeper.Then she pulled it across, hot blood spilling onto her arm, and then pulled out.The action almost decapitated him.

He fell down, dead, his eyes back to their normal colour. 

The blade retracted back up her sleeve and clicked in place when it was completely in its armoured cuff.

A voice to her left called for help, so Ellie put her hood back up and then checked the new stiff’s pockets.The wallet she tossed back onto his body, along with his phone.She dug into the other pocket and pulled out the phone she'd seen in her sight.It was Bouchard's phone.She could tell because there was a photo of him and his dog, Henri, as the background picture.

She pushed the phone into her pocket and then turned and ran.

 

 

 

 

**VI**

 

When Mike walked into her hotel room later that evening, he dared to give Ellie a wolf-whistle.She had taken yet another shower and had put on a tight black dress that fell to her knees.The way Ellie leant over the bureau with one leg in the air for balance accentuated every curve of her body.The muscles of her thighs and her arse were especially prominent in this position.

"Need a hand?" Mike asked, holding one out while looking at her legs.

"No," she snapped.Ellie moved closer to the mirror to get a better view of her eyes as she applied the last of her mascara.The hair she'd been growing out for this mission was no longer in its tight bun, but fell around her face.It was smooth, long, and raven black.And getting caught in the mascara brush. 

Mike wolf-whistled again.“He’s really going to like this.Even _I’m_ struggling to keep my hands off you and you’re usually so _hideous_ I could throw up.”

He pressed his lips to whistle again, but it faded out when Ellie turned and snapped, “Make that noise again and I’ll punch you in the throat.Let’s see how well you make stupid noises with a fractured larynx.”

“Point taken,” Mike said.He collapsed onto her bad, arms folded and staring at Ellie.

“What?” she asked, agitated tone in her voice.

“You should’ve gone for the backless dress.It would’ve shown your tattoo.”

Ellie’s deep red lips lifted into a smirk.“Yeah, but I’m saving it for when he invites me to meet his parents.Imagine the looks on their faces when he takes me home, tats and all.”

“You sly dog,” Mike said with a smile.“You’ll never get invited back.”

“I don’t intend to.”

Mike’s grin widened.He picked up a pair of high heels that had been chucked onto the bed and held them up by a thin strap.“You do realise you actually have to wear these,” he said.“To complete the ensemble, you know." 

Ellie’s shoulders slumped and she groaned.

“Other women wear them.”

“Well, other women are stupid.How’re you supposed to kill someone dress like this?” she asked, gesturing to her clothes.

Mike looked her up and down and rolled his eyes.“You know you’re not supposed to, right?Just act like a lady.You’ll be fine,” he added when the frown didn’t ease from her face. 

“So.What you’d get from Bouchard’s place?”

“You’re not supposed to talk shop, you’ve got to get your shoes on.Now get over here and I’ll help you with the buckle.These ones look particularly fiddly.”

Ellie rolled her head back and walked to the bed, ramming each foot into the soft carpet as she went.She fell onto the bed, Mike having to duck from her out stretched arms, leaving her legs dangling over the edge.Mike slipped off and started with a shoe.

“Tell me what you got from Bouchard’s flat before I go crazy and kick you in the eye with a killer heel,” Ellie ordered after Mike had put a shoe on her.“They don’t call these stilettos for nothing.”

“Apart from a deep satisfaction from trashing the place,” Mike said, leaning his head against her knee as he did battle with the other buckle.“I got his laptop.It’s password protected, though, so I can’t access anything.”

“Same with his phone,” Ellie said, glancing at her nails.Mike had painted them red to match her lipstick the night before, but there was already a small chip on her right thumbnail.It would have to do; they didn’t have time to redo it now. 

“Never mind.We’ll give them to Antonia to look at when we get back.We can send the details to the police and send out some of the soldiers to go after the high ranking officials.Prison’s too good for them.They deserve to go straight to hell.”

“Damn right.”

“And then we get a holiday too, right?”

“If nothing else comes up, then fine.”

“Something always comes up, but I’m always fine with killing bad guys.And there you go.My little girl’s all ready for her date.”Mike stood up, dragging her with him.“Knock him dead boss.”

“I can’t possibly do that yet.”

Mike put his hands on his hips.“I hope that’s a joke, young lady.”

Ellie’s phone buzzed on the bureau before she could come up with a snarky reply.“That must be him,” she said, striding over and putting it in her clutch bag without even looking.“How do I look?”

“Like you’re about to kill someone.Just relax and smile.You don’t have to mean it.”

“I can’t believe I’m taking advance from a hundred year old virgin.”

“I’m not a virgin.And don’t say anything like that when you’re at dinner.He won’t like it.”

“Fine.I'll say it after dinner."

Mike made a face that said 'don't mess with me, bitch'.“Smile and be pleasant.You can _sometimes_ do that.I don’t see it very often, but you can if you want to.”

She put on a smile, even though she didn’t feel like it.Then she headed to the door, wobbling as she went. 

As the door closed behind her, Mike shouted out, “Stairs are your enemy tonight.Stay well clear of them.”Ellie laughed, a real smile appearing on her face, and shut the door with a snap.She took a deep breath and went down to see her dinner date.


	2. To Un-Explain The Unforgivable Drain Of The Blood

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ellie and Mike’s trip to Paris isn’t as straight forward as they thought. With bizarre murders appearing in the city, an ally turns to them for help.

 

 

 **I**  
****

 

The voice down the other end of the phone jabbered away in what Mike thought was Spanish.Given her name it was the most probable language she’d use.It was always difficult to follow Antonia, a few foreign words slipped out in a deceptive German accent, but it was even harder when she went off on one.

It had started with a simple question, a not so simple answer, and then what Mike believed to be a wide range of insults in Spanish.As if it isn’t confusing enough, Mike thought, as he tried to get a word in.One would’ve been enough and it would’ve been “Quiet!”

When she paused for breath in her tirade, Mike saw his moment of opportunity and took it, perking up briefly.With a forced cheery tone he called “Bye!” and, shoulders slumped, Mike threw his mobile onto Ellie’s bed.He pinched the bridge of his nose, eyes screwed tight shut.Twenty minutes.Twenty minutes was how long Antonia had been nagging down his ear.Talking to Antonia was always so tiring.She considered everyone idiots when it came to technology and then expected them to understand everything she said.

Mike collapsed onto Ellie’s hotel bed, the phone bouncing against his ear, and breathed out a tired sigh.He looked at his watch and then dropped his arm over his head with a groan.Ellie was still out on her date.Of course she was.She’d left less than an hour ago.That was his only consolation of the evening.Although he preferred it when she was around, he was happy Ellie couldn’t get drunk either.

It was an important night for the both of them.

He rolled his head left and right, trying to think of something other than drinking that he could do.The books, placed in neat rows in a polished bookcase, were old and worn from hundred of hands.They looked like they’d come apart if he dared to touch them.The ones that would survive his assault would be French versions of _Pride and Prejudice_ , or something similar.Happy-dappy, classic romances that he couldn’t read even if he wanted to.He didn’t know any French beyond “Bonjour” and a few titles for the average, everyday French folk.He thought of how a woman like Jane Austen would be so disappointed for not being able to address a Lord correctly in French.But a lot had changed since her day.

War had come and gone, quite a few times since her death.

Thinking of Jane Austen reminded Mike of something his father has told him, when he had been no more than a little boy sat at his father’s side.That day, Mike had learnt about the Great War and the men in the trenches who would read Jane Austen’s works.His father had said it had been because the men missed their womenfolk and wanted to feel better.Mike had remembered that when he had enlisted and had read all her books during his own war.His father had been mistaken.The men hadn’t read her because they were missing the company of women, but because she had created a dream world for soldiers to wish for.To die for.

Mike had dropped that book, _Pride and Prejudice_ , into the mud and left it there.Unless someone picked it up after him, it would still be there, all these years later, buried below the soil and the blood of forgotten soldiers.

He refused to, metaphorically speaking, dig up that book.

In the corner sat a flat screen TV.They didn’t have one back home and he was tempted to give it a try.But the remote was one the coffee table, well out of his reach.Mike dropped his head back onto the bed, marvelling at the feather mattress that he only ever felt in this Parisian hotel.The people in the TV only spoke French anyway and he never had the chance to pick the language up.His visits to France usually ended in bloodshed and sudden departure.

He glanced up at his watch again and then put it to his ear to check it was still ticking.It was.

He thought about calling Antonia again.Despite their many disagreements and arguments during there relationship, Antonia was the only recruit Mike considered a friend.He was reaching for the phone when he paused and retracted his hand; instead, he knocked it away with the side of his head.Antonia was busy.She’d shouted that she was in the phone call he’d ended before thinking it through.She and her tech minions were on surveillance, watching a family of Shifters in a small town in Denmark, while tracking the known followers of Raynaud Edouard Bouchard on their social media sites.

Bouchard, the neo-Nazi Ellie assassinated earlier that day, had been the reason for his call to Antonia in the first place.The guy made Mike grind his teeth together, even after death, and he was desperate for some kills of his own.Mike had called to see if Antonia could talk him through hacking Bouchard’s phone so he could browse his local options.

“Talk you through it?”She barked out a laugh, a noise that always made Mike want to hit her.“Even if I could do that, you still wouldn’t understand how to do it.Anyway, you need equipment, _imbécil_.It can wait until you return, _amigo_.”

His next sentence started with “But can’t you” and ended with him being shouted at in Spanish on a subject he didn’t care about.

Mike pawed at the phone by his ear, and laid it face up on his chest.Should he call someone?The only two people he knew were busy.Perhaps a game?He’d become rather fond of playing solitaire, despite hating it in his youth.

He didn’t have a chance to make a decision: the mobile buzzed on his chest.He answered it on the second ring and didn’t bother to check who was calling.

“Ellie?Is that you?What happened?”

“ _Mon Dieu_.Do you not ‘ave caller ID?”A male’s voice came down the speaker in a thick French accent.

“What?”Mike frowned, pulling the phone away from his face to check the caller ID.The screen flashed up the name.

Oh.Dr. LeBlond.“What do you want?” Mike asked, picking a piece of fluff from his jumper and watching as it floated down to the duvet.

“I ‘ave some concerns that needs immediate attention.Seeing as you are in town, I thought you could put them to sleep.”

Mike started, his mouth drier than it had been a moment before.“How did you know if we’re in town?We could be anywhere.”

“ _Alors_ , I’m looking at a body that says otherwise.”Mike shifted, feeling like he was in the hot seat on _Mastermind_ : sooner or later there would be a question he wouldn’t be able to answer.“It’s definitely one of yours,” continued the doctor.“The cut to the throat is quite professional, especially from this angle.I must congratulate you on such a good kill."

“It’s not mine,” Mike said quietly.

There was a pause on the other end of the line.When Dr. LeBlond started talking again, Mike could hear the smile in the little Frenchman’s smug voice.“Then you must congratulate Ellie for me.But where is she?I ‘ave called ‘er a few times, but I ‘ave only got to the voicemail.Perhaps she is out killing more monsters without you.After all, she would not want to offend you.”LeBlond’s laugh was deep and muffled through the speaker, like he was stuck in some kind of underground chamber.

“Oh.Sorry,” Mike spat, “I forgot to laugh, Dr. I-love-dead-things-more-than-alive-things.It’s not my fault if I enjoy my job.You like yours, too.”

“Enough talk, _Monsieur le bébé_ ,” Mike’s face fell at the nickname the Frenchman had given him.“You English talk far too much.Where is Ellie?I must talk with her.”

“I’m afraid you’re stuck with me,” Mike said, clenching his fist.“I guess you would say I’m holding down the fort until she gets back.”

“Ah.Then we are, as you English say, doomed.”

“Anything I can help you with, doc?Did you cut off a limb and not know how to sew it back on?”

“Yes, I would go to you for sewing advice.But not for body parts.”Mike’s face fell.“But I suppose you will ‘ave to do.”

“Yeah, because _that’s_ not insulting.”

“Come to my office in ‘alf an ‘our.I ‘ave something you will want to see.”

“I don’t answer to you,” Mike said.A smile started to spread across his face.“I thought you’d know that by now.”

“All right then.Do not come.But you will be the one explaining to Ellie why more people ‘ave died from a _loup-garou_ attack, when she ‘as placed the only registered _loup-garou_ in Paris on my table.”

 

 

 

 

**II**

 

Sat in a candle lit corner of a mahogany floored, former ballroom with luscious scarlet drapes, Ellie could keep most of the patrons in her sight and had a good view of the major exit.The customer entrance with its large glass doors, and the windows that looked over the river Seine glistening in the setting sun, gave her a vantage point on the people outside.It was the corridor leading down to the toilets and kitchen that had her tapping her nail against the side of her half empty wine glass.Jimmy hadn’t been able to book their usual seats, so she didn’t have the advantages of sitting by the wall and in the centre.Every table was occupied: there was no way of changing.Ellie hated being backed into a corner, but it did come with an advantage: she didn’t have to watch her back.

When out on a job Ellie was often alone, but she always carried some from of weapon with her, even if it was only her hidden blade, sheathed inside an armoured cufflet and baggy hoodie.Whenever she went to a place unarmed, she had always had Mike with her, ready with weapons to throw her way.But Jimmy - she flicked her eyes in his direction, and then focused back on her glass - had asked for her chaperone to stay at home, so they could really be alone.

Jimmy reached out and covered the nervous hand with his own.“Don’t worry.”His hand was warm and slightly sweaty.“I’ll get the princess home before midnight,” he said with a wink.

“I’m not worried.”Ellie twisted her hand so that she was holding his across the table, like a couple of lovers.She put on her most submissive and loved-up smile she could muster: “Not with you.I could never be worried with you around.I’m just a little nervous.”

“Don’t be.I promise I’ll behave.”

Ellie angled her face down, eyes half closed and one side of her lips up.She wished she could make herself blush, but her actions got the desired reaction.His grip on her hand changed and he began to caress the webbing between her thumb and index finger in sweeping motions across the skin.The movement was comforting, even though Ellie disliked being handled in such a way.

When she was touched, it was usually a way to try and knock her down; an attempt to take her out.And not to dinner.

The last time a man had held her hand had been years ago, a few months after the discovery of his betrayal.He had sold her out, let her enemies know where she was based, and had even handed information over to them.Ellie remembered the fight well.It had taken place in the Angel of Death’s old Parisian headquarters.She had ordered her recruits, most long gone now, to collect as much as they could from the library and weapon stores, leaving her to stand and fight in the entrance hall with him clutching onto her hand, his thumb smoothing the creases between her thumb and index finger.He had whispered into her ear.“I will always fight for what you believe in.”Even then, she knew it wasn’t true and she hated him for it.

Just before her enemies had broken down the door, she pulled him in front of her, and placed a light kiss on his lips.If he could lie, then so could she.

Her fingers, now looped around his belt, slackened.With a flick of her wrist, her hidden blade slipped out of its sheath and she slammed it up, into her lung.Ellie’s hand gripped the back of his neck and dragged his ear to her lips.“All those who betray me, and the Angel of Death, end up dead, baby,” she had said, and then kissed his lobe.

When she pulled away, she saw fresh blood staining his chin as his mouth opened to try and let air into hislungs.But only blood passed between his lips.Ellie pulled the blade from his body, wiping it on his light grey jumper, and then released the back of his neck.He slumped and fell backwards onto the floor and lay there twitching.Ellie stepped over him as she returned her hidden blade back up the arm of her jacket.

Jimmy’s movements brought all those memories to the surface, but she felt no remorse for her former lover.His death had filled her with pride.Nothing could stop her if it meant it spared the people she had sworn to protect.She had killed friends in the past, allies and fellow soldiers: the day haunted her.But her ex-lover’s death was just another victory of that night.She had stopped loving him the moment his betrayal was known.All those who had crossed that threshold, who had trespassed, had been killed.After, her body weakened by the long and bloody battle, it had been just her and Mike who had piled the bodies high, and then torched the building.Both of them had felt guilty, leaving the flames licking up the walls of the building that had become their home.

And then Mike was gone, and Ellie was standing alone with the darkening sky above her, thick with ash.The air around her scorched her skin.The three storey building on the outskirts of Paris was gone, replaced with a temporary building, designed to blend in with the desolate surroundings.From where she stood, she could see the entire building burning, the debris on the ground from the explosion she had caused.Ellie was grateful she had used all the petrol on the base, as it overpowered the stench of burning flesh.

The grip Jimmy had on her hand brought Ellie back from the maze of her memories, and she squeezed his sweaty hand.

Jimmy looked deep into Ellie’s eyes, searching for an answer there that he would never find.His face was slack, and his eyes wide and staring.The gormless, love-sick expression reminded Ellie of the time she and Mike fought of a load of zombies in a sleepy Italian village.Behind the vacant expression, and slack-jawed idiocy, there was a look of intent.

Ellie’s gaze fell to the flowers on the table, wanting to look anywhere but at him.She willed a blush to make an appearance to get into the character she was playing for him, but she had never been much of a blusher.Instead, Ellie bowed her head and wiggled her hand out of Jimmy’s.Once free, the cold air hit her flesh and chilled the sweat that had encompassed her hand.To stop herself wiping it off in disgust, Ellie reached out and touched the petal of a flower in the elaborately weaved basket.After declaring the little white flowers were her favourite, Jimmy had taken to having a basket of them whenever the two of them got together. She rubbed her thumb against the petal, avoiding eye contact.

“What are y…” Jimmy began, but was silenced when Ellie brought a finger to her lips.

Ellie dragged her fingers across the delicate stem and pinched it.Cold sap lightly coated her fingers, a pleasant change from the hot blood that usually drenched her hands.

Jimmy went to speak again, but Ellie leaned over and pressed a finger to his lips.He was silenced.

As she stood, his head went with her, his eyes following as she flicked her hair irritably out of her eyes and mouth.Ellie slipped the tips of her fingers across the cloth, trailing behind the rest of her body as she drifted around the table.She twirled the flower in her fingers, the red of the nails standing out like blood against the snow white petals.

Her movements were slow and delicate: deliberate.As she leant forward, she tucked an errant strand of hair behind her ear and lowered herself to the floor.Ellie concentrated on putting the flower’s stem through Jimmy’s dinner jacket buttonhole.It was over a minute passed before she managed to fiddle it enough to make it stay facing, more or less, straight out.

As Ellie went to leave, drawing her body from his, she stroked the tips of her fingers down his arm.The touch was soft and gentle, fleeting and barely felt.It had James Hamilton, heir of the Hamilton estate, fortune, and mass of ancient artefacts, leaning in for more.

And then she was gone, back to her seat in an agonising slow and teasing sashay back round the table.It was all for his benefit: for him to watch, but not touch.

As Ellie slipped into her seat, she noticed Jimmy reach up and turn the flower so the petals faced out.His mouth opened and closed.He was trying to find the perfect words to fit the situation, but Ellie knew he wouldn’t find anything.Jimmy wasn’t the brightest spark.

When he’d settled, his blushed face returning to its usual colour, he said, “Thank you.”He gave her a smiled.“It’s an odd choice of flower, though.”His speech was gaining momentum again, as he came down from his visual high.“Capella…”

“Campanula Carpatica,” Ellie corrected swiftly and with a patient, thinned lipped, smile.She had taken care to remember every little detail about him, but he couldn’t even be bothered to learn the name of her favourite flower.The flower she had said was her favourite.

“Yes, yes.Campanula Carpatica,” he said slowly, sounding out the syllables.“My Latin has always been terrible.But I can pronounce it’s more common name.Funeral Bells!”

Ellie was shocked he’d learnt that, but instead of showing it, she reached out to touch at a petal again.It was just a gentle touch, but enough to make the flower bob under the pressure.

“Sometimes,” he laughed, “under that charmingly sweet and innocent face, you’ve got the mind of a sadistic killer.”

“Oh.If only you knew,” Ellie flirted.

*

Walking hand-in-hand along the bank of the river Seine, Ellie almost felt relaxed.In one hand she held held the basket of little white flowers and in the other she has the hand of the man who she’d dined with.Ellie let her usually tense muscles relax and she sank more of her weight against Jimmy.

Ellie hadn’t felt so relaxed in public, with civilians, for over twenty years.

It was when they had to leave their London home for a smaller country home.At the time she’d no idea how important the move was: it took a few years to see the difference.She’d only cared about leaving the city where her friends lived, where her perfectly decorated room was, and where she could always visit, what she’d called in her youth, her garden.It was so long ago that Ellie could no longer remember what her bedroom looked like, only the feeling she’d felt in her chest as she’d left it for the last time.It was the same feeling she had when, eight years ago, she realised she could never go home again.

The realisation had exploded in her face.Ellie gripped the basket of Funeral Bells tighter.Her nails, longer than usual, dug deep into her palm as she tried to quell the shaking she could feel starting inside.The pain worked, clearing Ellie’s head of the acidic smell of burning petrol and the arid desert.

Ellie buried her head into Jimmy’s arm, hiding her face from him.His scent was somewhat familiar and grounded her.The shaking eased before it became something he could tell it was nothing to do with the wind.Ellie almost tensed, when he lifted his arm and draped it over her shoulders, drawing her even closer.Her instinct was to punch him, but she swallowed that urge and relaxed against him.Besides, there was still a chill in the air and she didn’t own a coat suitable for the occasion.She only ever wore hoodies and leather jackets, never anything flashy and expensive.

Ellie reached for the hand slung over her shoulder.It was hot and heavy; sticky with sweat.But she held on and snuggled against, him hoping the indents in her palm, weren’t noticeable.

The last time she’d held someone’s hand, she pulled him in close, placed a gentle kiss on lips lips, and then punctured his lung with her hidden blade.The sound of the blade slicing into his body and retreating again; the blood staining his lips.Her brows furrowed, her nostrils flared into a snort, and her lips curved up into a twisted smile.Ellie had killed a man, she knew that, but in the end, he’d cost her months of research and nearly her life.His excuse: “God is on their side.”He coughed blood, but she had already stepped over his body and was giving out orders.

“Get the weapons and research material out.As much as you can.”Her minions ran off, leaving Mike and Antonia by her side.Her closest allies and closest things to friends since her life exploded before he eyes.“Antonia, take the back-up hard drives and destroy the computers.We’ll meet you at the _rendezvous_ point.”

Antonia shook her head, her blonde hair black with sweat, sticking to the side of her head and to her neck.“ _No_.I can’t leave you alone here.You guys need me.”

“We need you alive.”

“Obey!” Mike snapped, covering his eyes.“Or you know what will happen!”

A loud bang caused the building to shake, plaster to crumble off the walls, and dust to fall from the ceiling.Mike stumbled and Antonia gripped his arm.“You guys need me here.”

“Go.Now!That’s an order.”Ellie bared her teeth and took a step forward, causing Antonia to let go of Mike and stumble backwards.“Or you’ll suffer a worse fate than you can imagine and you would’ve betrayed your kin for nothing.”

“ _Buena suerte_ ,” whispered Antonia.She raised her head and gave them both a smile.

And then she turned and ran, disappearing into a backroom that led to her former lair.

Mike put a hand on Ellie’s shoulder.“So it’s just up to us to hold down the fort.And a couple hundred booby traps.Just like old times.”

“Just as it should be.”Ellie shook off the hand and put her body behind a pillar, pulling two silver blades from her belt.Mike back up to another pillar to her left and holstered his gun.He pulled his bow from his back and nocked an arrow, holding the string taut.

With a crash, the front door flew off its hinges and landed behind the pillars, sliding past them until it cracked into the back wall.

Mike nodded, show he was ready when she was.Ellie nodded back.

And then the two turned towards the entrance together.

Mike released a silver tipped arrow as Ellie threw her first knife.

 

 

 

 

**III**

 

With a grin on her face, Ellie slipped an arm under Jimmy’s jacket.He quivered at her touch, and pulled him towards the river.The sudden change in direction caused their legs to tangle and they stumbled towards the railings.Ellie landed hard against the metal; a second later, Jimmy’s body crashed into her.In the glow of the streetlights, Ellie looked up at Jimmy from under her uniform eyelashes.She leaned in closer and closer, until her lips were almost touching his.Then she let out a very girlish giggle, pulled away, and hid her face with a hand as she looked down river.

Ellie hoped she looked like a shy date.

Jimmy shifted back a little, but didn’t take a step away, his upper body still completely pressed against her.“I’ll still want that kiss,” he whispered into her ear.

“You’ll have to catch me first.”

She turned back to face him so she could smile up at him.She let go of his hand to run off ahead, expecting him to follow, not caring if he did.It had been ages since it had all begun and she could be young and free again.

The rose garden in Hyde Park, her garden, was in full bloom.Behind her she could hear her father’s low chuckle as she stopped at the first patch of flowers, her little, chubby cheeks flushed pink.“Look!” she shouted, pointing at the delicate petals.When he had finally caught up with her, pretending to stagger and pant, making her laugh at him, he lifted her onto his hip and promised her a garden filled with roses when they moved to the country.He kissed the tears off Ellie’s face as she flung her arms around him and held onto him until they finally left for home.That had been the last time Ellie had gone to Hyde Park until she had been shipped overseas, a regiment tattoo still stinging in her boot.

Of course, Ellie had been too young to understand the reasons behind the move at the time.All she knew was that her mummy was sick.She needed to go where the air was pure, where she could breathe properly, and she couldn’t do that in London.Ellie did get her promised rose garden that she filled with blooms and pruned in the autumn.It was back in a time she willingly admitted the rose was her favourite flower, until she was told big girls didn’t play gardener.So Ellie became interested in the dark woods behind their country home, foraging for mushrooms; learning which ones she could make into soup and which she could make into an effective poison.

The smile fell from Ellie’s face and she was that little girl in her father’s arms again: not wanting to go, but knowing she could never stay.Jimmy was like the garden she had abandoned, and the family she left: he wasn’t permanent.Ellie could push him and he would disappear like everything else.

Jimmy caught up with her before she had gone twenty paces and wrapped an arm around her, pulling her close.After all, how could she run away in a tiny dress and high heels?Ellie wished she had actually practised just in case she had needed it in her life.Running in heels was a skill every woman should have in her repertoire.

Leaning back into her role as loving and submissive girlfriend, Ellie wrapped an arm around her ‘boyfriend’.From the way he puffed out his chest, he thought the affection she was showing him was because she loved him.But she had said “I love you” hundreds of times in the past to get what she thought she wanted.It never meant anything.Not to her anyway.

She hoped, with every fibre of her being, it wouldn’t be too much longer until the charade was over.Ellie hated to play the weakling: it was exhausting.

During the years of her training at the hands of Nanny Vivien, Ellie had learnt something about herself.Vivien had told the young daughter of her employer that acting in anyway feminine wasn’t in Ellie’s nature.It wasn’t in her blood.And that was all Vivien had cared about in the end: blood.It didn’t matter whose it was, as long as someone was bleeding, she didn’t care.From hunting rabbits in the woods behind Ellie’s childhood home to killing her first Shifter at the age of eleven.It always ended in blood.

Ellie wondered what Vivien would say if she could see her charge now, dressed in restrictive clothes, make-up, and no weapons on her.Vivien would kick her arse, telling her she was an idiot, not the warrior she’d been train to be.Vivien’s idea of a job well done was getting in and out without investing time or effort.And, above all, kill anyone who dared get in her way.Or who didn’t.

Ellie remembered going head-to-head with a Minotaur while travelling around Greece when she was thirteen.It hadn’t been long after her fall down the stairs and her leg was still in cast.He had thrown her hard enough against the wall to crack the plaster supporting her mending bones.Ellie cried out in pain, but clamped her mouth shut again after a glare from Vivien told her to be quiet.Slipping in and out of consciousness, Ellie had no idea how Vivien had killed the beast.But it was his blood that drenched her clothes and stained her skin.Vivien had walked away from a creature that had killed dozens of hunters before them, completely unscathed.

Ellie felt herself pulled in for another kiss on her head and let him.For tonight, Jimmy was in control and she was swooning lady.Vivien could go to hell.Ellie felt like the rebellious teenager she never had the chance to be.Her boyfriend might not have been real, but was not what Vivien would’ve approved of.The clothes would’ve driven her mad.

And it would all work out in the end.Ellie had a plan in motion and she needed Jimmy to complete it.Vivien’s way wouldn’t work in this case and Ellie was thankful.The object that haunted Ellie’s dreams was far too powerfully protected, by bodyguards and wards that Vivien had no chance.This time, Ellie would be victorious.

 

 

 

 

**IV**

 

Mike stood outside Dr. LeBlond’s office.Well, he said office but he meant hospital.Once again the good doctor was working late, like Mike was, deep in the bowels of the hospital.Mike looked up at the building, feeling a sense of belonging he hadn’t felt in years.

Once inside, the feeling faded as Mike strode towards the reception desk.A tired Frenchman sat there, balancing a phone by his ear with his shoulder, taping away at the computer with one hand, and filling out forms with the other.Mike pulled out a police ID badge, giving the receptionist a quick glimpse at it before telling the person on the other end that he had an emergency.

“ _Comment puis-j’aider, monsieur le detective_?” the receptionist asked, never taking his eyes off the screen as he scrolled furiously through a document.Mike almost felt sorry for the guy who couldn’t do this job on his own and looked overworked.But there was a dead guy in the morgue who demanded what was left of Mike’s pity.

“ _Où est la morgue_?” he replied automatically.After years of saying that line, Mike no longer feared sounding like a Cockney imitating a Frenchie.He had that question down to a T.

The set of directions that came out of the receptionist’s mouth was a garble Mike didn’t understand, but he smiled and thanked the man with a quick “ _Merci_ ”, before heading down the corridor.

Asking for directions was something he and Ellie always did when visiting Dr. LeBlond at the hospital, not wanting to look too friendly with the doctor they pretended not to know.The truth was, the good doctor made frequent calls to Ellie, or Mike when she wasn’t around, to make reports on Parisian news.

The further away Mike got from _Les Urgencies_ , the French equivalent of A&E, the corridors became quieter and more like an office building.There were still the occasional tired doctor and, down one corridor, a stampede of harassed nurses, but it was pretty quiet.He didn’t envy them their jobs.It might’ve been a dream of his - long ago - but his doctorate could do nothing for him now.And besides, he enjoyed being the hunter-medic.The power it gave him when Ellie allowed it…

Mike turned right and banged through the doors leading to a whitewashed stairwell, startling a few nurses who had sought refuge there.They scattered, most going up, two out the way he’d come, and one, with a mountain of paperwork in front of her, dashed downstairs.Mike followed at a slower pace.Damn Dr. LeBlond.Paris was just as hectic at night as it was during the day and the hospital, too, was always busy.

The thing he missed the least about working in a hospital was the long hours at a fast pace that had left him exhausted at the end of his shift.All that running around to find some patients had still died waiting to be seen, huddled in impersonal and cold corridors with a bunch of bleeding strangers.It was hardly sanitary.And then he joined the military Medical Corps.He had no idea what had possessed him to do it.He guessed it was the feelings of worthlessness and wanting to do more.After all that he did for his country, he was living like an exile, like Charlie Chaplin.Mike closed his eyes against the hate burning in the hole left inside of him, and he didn’t open them again until he missed a step and almost landed on his face.

Down here, things were stark and bare.A staff notice board was on the wall on his right and, of course, there were signs about hand washing, discernible only because of the universal pictograms, hung everywhere.He squirted a handful of sanitiser and rubbed it in as he strolled down the overly bright corridor, passing storage rooms full of drugs and cleaning supplies, to the door at the very end.The door to the morgue.

Mike pushed at it tentatively, aware that he was late for his appointment and worried Dr. LeBlond had got tired of waiting, preferring the comfort of his four room flat by the river to the windowless tomb that was his office.The trains had been packed and there had been delays so it had taken him much longer than he’d hoped to get there.But it yielded, so he put his palm on the glass and pushed, the door swinging open.The door banged open, startling the doctor’s assistant, bundled in a corner.

“ _Merde!Imbécile!_ ” she shouted, wiping her clothes.Her beige suit was soaked across her lap, a dripping cup in hand.She dropped in onto her desk with a huff and picked up a piece of saturated paper, limp from a heavy shower of coffee.She glared at him, jaw set, about to give him a right good bollocking.

Mike raised a hand: this one had a fiery temper.“ _Désolé_ ,” he said with an attempt of a grin on his face.

The woman’s nostrils flared and her feet shifted back into a fighting stance, pen raised and pointing at Mike.Eyes wide, he took a step back, thinking that she would make an excellent addition to their team if she didn’t have eyes that said she wanted to castrate him.

And that was when Dr. LeBlond, face worn from a long day of cutting up dead people, appeared at the door in the far corner.The doctor looked amused, turning his head from his assistant to the startled man in his doorway.“Who would ‘ave thought you could be scared so easily, _Monsieur_.”Mike’s face crumpled into one of anger and embarrassment, but Dr. LeBlond paid no more attention to him.Instead, he turned to the woman brandishing the pen like a weapon.“ _Sara, rentrer chez soi_.”For a moment she looked defiant, but it was wiped from her face when LeBlond barked: “ _Maintenant_!”

She quickly packed up her belongings, grumbling, and barged passed Mike as she exited.If they had met under different circumstances - different circumstances being not frightening her to the extent she poured coffee over her self - Mike would’ve liked to ask her our for a drink.

Dr. LeBlond still stood, arms crossed and leaning back onto the doorpost leading to what Mike playfully called the “dissecting room”.

“You are late,” he said with a huff.

“Paris is busy at night.And I’m used to the open road, not trains.”Mike picked up a hardboiled sweet from the desk, released it from its wrapper, and popped it into his mouth.It clunked against his teeth, a noise he knew the doctor hate, and grinned around it.

“ _Non_.I am sure you would be much more comfortable living in a Victor Hugo novel.With horses and…” he said, and looked down at the title floor with a frown on his face.“With horses and… _Quel est le mot?_ What do horses carry - pull?”

Mike frowned.“Carriages?” he asked, shrugging.

“Carry-age.Really?”

“Yes.”

“ _Bien_.You belong with horses and carry-ages.”

“Nope.”Mike walked over to the bookshelf, hands deep in his pockets.“I belong here, mate.”The word slipped off his tongue again, unnatural to his own ears.Dr. LeBlond’s face clouded in confusion again, but he let it slide.Mike almost sighed in relief.The language barrier could’ve had them up all night.

And then Dr. LeBlond was gone, white lab coat flapping behind him as he disappeared into the backroom.

Mike sulked after the doctor, hesitating at the door.Dr. LeBlond was already at the mortuary freezer, fingers wrapped around the handle, waiting for Mike to get a grip.The doctor rolled his eyes, so Mike swallowed and strode over the best he could.Dr. LeBlond had a wicked smile on his face, knowing full well Mike never liked this part, usually leaving it to Ellie.But he straightened up and set his face, determined not to let Dr. LeBlond see the memories of being trapped inside one for hours on his face.From the smile on the doctor’s face, Mike could tell he was enjoying it.After all, the doctor wasn’t even Ellie’s second favourite helper.

The thought made a cocky gun appear on Mike’s face.Dr. LeBlond was only still around because Ellie had thought his expertise would come in handy.Otherwise he would’ve lost his head back when he’d been living in Rouen when Ellie and Mike were working a hunt.And the doctor knew it.

With Mike finally at the huge freezer, Dr. LeBlond pulled out the middle drawer, the white sheet covering the cadaver falling in waves around the deadman’s face, constricting.Mike clenched his fists.

The doctor folded the sheet away from the corpse’s face and upper body, revealing pale flesh with the first signs of rigour mortis showing on his shredded body.

“This one came in last night.You see ‘ere” - the doctor indicated to the five claw marks on the deadman’s throat with a swiping motion - “the man was killed quickly by, erm, scratching at the throat.The cuts are messy, very messy.Done quickly to silence the prey.And see ‘ere,” he said, moving around the body to drift his little finger over the deadman’s chest where more deep red slashes marked the deathly white skin.“The attacker went after the _le cœur_ \- what you call ‘eart, _non_?”

“Yeah.”Mike shrugged and leant on the thankfully clean autopsy table behind him.“So?It’s a werewolf attack.I don’t see why you had to drag me away from the only quiet night in I’ve had in decades.”

“Because it is not the reason why I asked you ‘ere.”Dr. LeBlond thew the sheet back over the victim’s pasty face and slammed him back into his little cubby hole with such force the door banged closed.“Another body was brought in last night and that one is significant.”He crouched and opened a lower drawer until half the body was sticking out, once again lifting the sheet off another victim.“I ‘ave the body of the _loup-garou_ and given the few number of attacks every month, I think he was the only one.I am not certain, but I am mostly certain.”

“So?”Mike shifted and cast his eyes down at where Dr. LeBlond was kneeling.“Convince me why I’m here.”

“This body,” said the doctor, hovering is hands over the corpse, “came in this morning.The police think it is an animal attack, the same that attacked the other man.”He nodded his head to the drawer he’d shut.

Mike rolled his eyes.He couldn’t believe he’d got dressed up for this: a werewolf case where the werewolf was already dead.He loosened his tie, pulling it away from his neck, and undid his top button, sighing to release some of the pressure that was building in his chest.He was far too sober to deal with the eccentric, little French doctor.

“There are similarities between what cause the deaths.Both died because of a … a cut to the throat, but this body,” he said, waving a hand over the corpse, “has three cuts instead of four.And they are much more _précis_.It took one cut instead of many, like a usual _loup-garou_ attack.”

Mike’s body straightened and his eyes focused on the body.“So, you’re saying,” he said, squatting down to the doctor’s level next to the cadaver, “this was _made_ to look like a werewolf attack?”Dr. LeBlond nodded.“But his heart was removed.Why would someone do that?” Mike asked.

“To complete the look.Look at this.”Dr. LeBlond used his little finger to trace the marks on the second victim’s chest.“When a _loup-garou_ goes after the ‘eart, it is usually insane, mad with ‘unger.It wants to feed: it needs to feed.But this is, how you say, tidy and neat.”

Mike leant in closer, not even bothering to correct the doctor’s idiom.Dr. LeBlond was right, of course he was.The cuts were neat, meticulously neat.There was limited tearing around the wounds, which was common in animal and werewolf attacks, and the insertions looked planned, not like they were made in a frenzy.Mike’s experience as a military medic made him know that these wounds were made by a knife, not claws.

“So, if it wasn’t a werewolf, what did it?”

“There is not a lot to go on…”

“There’s nothing to go on.”

“Not from ‘im.”The doctor nodded to the corpse.“But there ‘as been some er … unrest in many vampire groups in Paris.One, _en particulier_.The are un’appy with the rules.They ‘ave grown tired of drinking blood from pouches rather than…”

“Rather than straight from the tap.”Mike wiped a hand against the stubble on his chin.“How do you know this?”

“Straight, as you English say, from the ‘orse’s mouth.”

Mike’s eyebrow shot up.“They let you in?”

Teeth bared, Dr. LeBlond rolled his neck, a low growl coming from the back of his throat.As another pair of teeth descended from below the doctor’s lips, Mike put a hand on his gun, concealed behind his back, tucked, with the safety on, into the back of his trousers.He clicked the safety off, the noise causing Dr. LeBlond’s head to twist back down.The smile on his face unnerved Mike, the extra set of teeth jutting out unnaturally.With a cackle, the doctor’s head rolled back, and when he faced Mike again, the teeth had disappeared.

Mike let out the breath he hadn’t been aware he’d been holding, as a relieved laugh bubbled to the surface.He reapplied the safety, but didn’t let his hand stray far from his gun.“You know, doc, with you working with so much deadman’s blood, I sometimes forget you’re a part of Club Undead.”

“Do not joke.”The doctor’s face was completely serious, the remnant of the beast that lived within him faded into the face of a middle aged man: a few crinkles around the eyes and greying at the temples.“This is not the first body like this I ‘ave examined, and this is only one _morgue_ of many inParis.A few friends in other morgues had described similar markings.”He flicked the sheet over the man’s body.“What are you going to do about it?”

 

 

 

 

**V**

 

Ellie was biting her cheeks as she sashayed across the hotel reception, one hand lingering on the back ofof a velvet sofa, towards the lift.All her concentration had to be focused on her feet, or she’d land on her face.Her feet ached to high heavens, the balls of her feet felt like she was walking with pins lodged under the skin.The last thing she wanted was to fall, risking a twisted ankle and having Jimmy rush over to help her up, gentleman that he was, putting his hands all over her as he checked she wasn’t hurt.Ellie repressed a shudder and the smile she was biting back fell from her face.She’d been stuck in a desert storm, sheltered in a burnt out all-terrain vehicle, had blood dripping for her face and hands, but she’d never felt so dirty as after a date with Jimmy.

What she wanted was a hot shower and she felt that she’d earned it.But that was all to come.For now, she had to make do swinging her hips as she left Jimmy blocking the entrance of the hotel.

After she’d hit the button that called the lift, she turned.Jimmy waved to her, his hand raised and rocking gently.Ellie returned it with what she hoped was a sexy twiddle of her fingers, as she’d seen other women do.She smiled, trying to reassure him, giving him the message that he could leave, but she knew he wouldn’t.It was always worth a try.

And then the lift arrive with a _ping!_ Ellie faked startled well: a hand over her heart, followed by a giggle with a slight bow of the head.

Then she was inside, the doors closing behind her.

Relieved to be alone at last, Ellie slumped against the wall and slid down until she was on the floor with her weight off her feet and her hair sticking from the static against the wall.A pained sigh came from her mouth before she could bite it off, but she grinned through the pain.After all, Ellie had felt a lot worse in the past.

She pulled off a shoe without undoing the buckle, aimed, and threw.The heel hit the button with her floor number etched in gold onto it and she punched the air.It was another victory of the night.

Earlier that evening, cuddled up under Jimmy’s arm with his jacket wrapped around Ellie’s shoulders, they had found an empty bench facing the Seine.They sat for a while in silence, staring at the lights reflecting off the water while Paris bustled around them.Jimmy pulled her closer until she was leaning against his sweaty body and she only had one thigh keeping her on the bench.Ellie managed the resist the urge to punch Jimmy in the throat when he palmed one of her arse cheeks.Instead, Ellie smiled up at him and melted into his touch.He kissed her temple and stroked the hand on her arse down her thigh.For a moment, Ellie’s heart actually fluttered.She wanted to slap his hand away so he wouldn’t notice, so he wouldn’t question her about the odd shaped, raised flesh that he would feel through the thin fabric of her dress, and that she wouldn’t be able to explain.But his hand only rubbed up and down the back of her thigh, occasionally stopping to caress her skin in gentle circles with his thumb.

And that’s when he hit her with her first, and most important, victory of the evening.

“I know you’re busy at the moment,” he started, not able to look her in the eye.“But my parents are having a party in a few weeks time.Back home, at their estate.I’ve told them all about you and they’re dying to meet you.”I bet, Ellie thought.“But will you be able to make it?”

For a moment, Ellie was too stunned to say anything.It had worked.Her plan had actually worked.Ellie wanted to punch the air, but she restrained herself, instead cupping the hand that was groping her.“I’d love to,” she said softly, and entwined her fingers with his.

“You meant it?”

“Yes.”

It was the only thing she told him that night that hadn’t been a lie.

As Ellie sat on the lift floor as it made its smooth ascent up towards her room to celebrate a job well done, Ellie pulled off her other shoe and dumped it next to the flowers that had decorated their table at dinner.Jimmy had ended up carrying the little wicker basket the restaurant had made at his request, especially for her, on their walk back to her hotel.Her fingers ghosted across the the flowers, the delicate petals bending under her touch; until she stopped, picking a flower from its stem.Ellie twirled it in her fingers.The petals danced around like the floaty dresses she used to wear as a little girl.Then Ellie stopped, dropped it into the palm of her hand, and crushed it.Ellie turned her hand palm down, the petal floating back down to the floor.

*

“I never thought I’d live to see the day,” Ellie said with a big smile on her face when the lift opened on her floor.The man who’d been facing away from her with his hands behind his straight back, turned to reveal a bored expression.The one who’d been leaning against the wall, one leg tucked under his body as a temporary seat, pushed himself off it.“The good doctor and my right hand man, friends at last.”

Mike snorted as he cupped his hand around the lift door before it could close on her.“Come on, Ellie.Get up,” he said.Ellie raised a brow at his authoritative tone, but let it slide.It wasn’t the first time Mike had started acting like a prat in front of Dr. LeBlond, and his timing was impeccable: she was too tired too call him up on it.“We have an emergency vampire meeting to break up.”

Ellie rested her head on the wall, chin up, closed eyes facing the ceiling.With the tips of two fingers, she massaged her temples.A headache was on its way from all the laughing she had done and after smiling all night her cheeks were sore.Ellie never wanted to go undercover again.Making sure a smile stayed on a man’s face, with his sensitive ego, was way harder than it looked.

With a huff she got to her feet, slapping away a helping hand from Mike as he lent forward, body still blocking the doors.He stepped aside to let Ellie pass and she pointed to the floor.“Pick up my stuff and follow me.Both of you,” she order, before Mike could make a complaint.Whatever happened, Ellie was still in charge.

“Want us to dump these?” Mike asked, as he picked up a stiletto and her bag, while Dr. LeBlond went for the Funeral Bells and the other discarded shoe.

“No.”

“Oh!I thought you’d never want to see these again.”Mike looked down at the shoe in his hand as he skirted the closing doors, just before Dr. LeBlond.Mike studied the shoe in his hand, stopped, and then realised Dr. LeBlond was doing the same with the other.

“Shoes ‘ave changed since I was born,” said the doctor, his voice quiet, too quiet for Ellie to hear, but Mike did.Dr. LeBlond had said it in English, aiming the comment at Mike.

“Tell me about it.”

“Have you lovebirds done reminiscing about the past?” asked Ellie, slamming her hotel room door behind them, drawing the men away from the shoes.Dr. LeBlond followed Mike’s actions, throwing the stiletto onto the bed.

“Good.”Ellie reached behind her and unzipped her dress, stripping it from her bod.Both Mike and the doctor suddenly became very interested with the ceiling.Ellie followed their gaze.“For crying out loud,” she said, shaking her head.She stepped out of the puddle of fabric and barged between the two men.I still have underwear on, you know!”

Ellie, marching towards the bathroom, twisted on her heels, arms raised as if she was going to hug someone, continuing to skip backwards.“One of you boys had better pick that up,” she said, inclining her head to the dress on the floor.“You never know, I might need it when I get to England.”

Mike’s head snapped down.Then Ellie’s laughter filled the room.It was a light and joyful sound.He couldn’t remember the last time she had laughed like that.Then it was gone with the slam of the bathroom door.

“You’re going to England?” he shouted, but didn’t get an answer.

Mike raised a finger and pointed at the closed door.“We’re going to England,” he said, a huge grin plastered on his face.

The doctor, who had picked up the dress and was holding the silky fabric by his fingers, shaking the wrinkles out, said, “ _Non_. _I_ am not going.”He darted his eyes to Mike’s face to watch the grin drop from the other man’s face.“And you are not either.”

 

 

 

 

**VI**

 

During their years of allied friendship and visits to the French capital, Ellie and Mike made many visits to the Paris catacombs.They would be called in to chase down a pissed off spirit who’d been moved from his place of burial to his final resting place, stored amongst the bones of thousands of others.Ellie and Mike would wander the maze-like tunnels, off shoots, and dead ends, torch light bouncing off row after row of skulls.With the number of bodies buried beneath the city and the bones scattered far and wide, it certainly wasn’t the normal salt-and-burn.Unwilling to torch a French monument and historical site, Ellie had to get creative when finding a solution.In the end, she and Mike had tagged many of the walls with the Celtic symbol go protection against spirits.The simplified version of the Shield Knots were spray painted on the walls and onto bones.It had worked until the authorities had discovered the odd graffiti, and started to clean it up, driving out party-goers - who weren’t exactly helping the already restless spirits - and causing frequent hauntings.The already notorious catacombs were beginning to get an even worse reputation.And that was when the vampires decided to move in.

The modern Parisian vampire doesn’t live in an underground nest, shrouded in darkness, but resides in high-rise apartments, and various other luxury abodes with all the conveniences the contemporary world had to offer.But they still had a flare for the dramatic, holding secret meetings in the ancient underground assures, and having little sleepovers down there occasionally.

“I used to go to the meetings once a month,” Dr. LeBlond said as he lead them through the winding tunnels.Ellie dragged her fingers against the wall of skulls, feeling every eye socket and every missing tooth.“But I ‘ave been busy for the last seven or eight months, so I ‘ave not been able to come.But I do know they were beginning to show a … erm … dislike to the Angel of Death’s ruled.‘Aving never seen ‘im, they did not take ‘is threat from two humans seriously.”

In the darkness, Ellie and Mike made eye contact.He had crossed his arms and was pouting, brow furrowed.Ellie wanted to laugh at him, and say that the vamps were in for a surprise, but restrained herself.There was a high probability that they would need Mike’s rage.

*

The closer Ellie and Mike got to the area where the doctor said the vamps were meeting, they could hear light music and talking.Ellie closed her eyes, letting her fingers guide her around the corner, trying to tell how many of Club Undead there were.There were too many voices to tell for sure, but she thought it was about twenty.

When they shut off their torches, Ellie’s shoulders slumped.The events of the past few days were beginning to take their tole.The balls of her feet ached; the scab that had formed over the claw marks from the werewolf attack pulled every time she moved.But Ellie straightened her back again.It wasn’t the time to let past events get in the way.That was a sure fire way to getting killed.

The tunnel curved again and then they were standing in the entrance of a cave, the only sound being the tinny music from a portable speaker.The vampires huddled together towards the back of the large cavern, carved into the limestone that Paris was built on.The chamber had a little stage to the left, where the music and a scantily clad female DJ stood in charge of the music.Looking around the room, Ellie noticed most of the vamps weren’t wearing very much, some even going topless.Since _Twilight_ all the vamps are forgetting to dress properly, Ellie thought.

There was one good thing about the vamps’s have naked state: there was no where for them to hide any weapons.These were classy vampires, they only used their teeth when they needed to, or were feeding.They only had one weapon Ellie and her boys had to worry about.

The vampires, however, had more on their mind.Up against three people - two of which the vampires admittedly thought were weak, and were in for a shock - with their only exit blocked.Ellie bet they were regretting their choice of clubbing location.

“ _Bonjour!_ ” Ellie called out, taking a step into the room.The vampires all took a step back.Ellie and Mike were a formidable sight.They tossed their torches to one side.She tightened her grip on her machete and he rapped his crossbow, arrows primed with fresh deadman’s blood from Dr. LeBlond’s morgue.

“I hear you’ve been bad, little vamps,” said Ellie, taking yet another step into the room and flinging the machete in front of their faces.“Isn’t that what the Angel of Death has been hearing?That you’ve been killing people in the style of werewolves just for some blood?”

No one said anything.

“Don’t we provide you with enough blood to sustain you?Did you really have to kill people to get it?”

Most of the vampires looked at their feet, but one piped up.“So what if we did?We deserve fresh blood!”The chamber erupted with cheers.The previously subdued vamps, too scared to even look Ellie in the eye, shouted words she couldn’t make out, seconded with bared teeth.

When the noise had died down a bit, Ellie said, “But you all made a binding contract.You were not to kill anyone or anything.The only way to break the contract is death. _Yours_.”Ellie raised her chin, eyes wide and manic, grinning from ear to ear.“Hello, babies.”

And then her arm was swinging.The machete whizzed though the air, making contact with a neck and slicing it clean off.The head bounced a few times, before rolling and stopping right at Ellie’s feet, dead eyes staring up at her.Machete raised, Elie put a foot on the dead woman’s face and leant forward.“Who’s next?”

There was a blur of movement to her right, then the sound of an arrow releasing.It hit the vampire in the chest, bringing it to its knees.The next movement saw another decapitation, while Dr. LeBlond made himself useful at Ellie’s side, ripping the next vampire’s throat out with his teeth.He panted, blood dripping from his face.It had been a long time since he had killed anything, but vampires were his kin and killing them exhausting.He backed away to watch Ellie swinging her machete, head after head rolling around the floor, and Mike standing at the chamber entrance, his arrows always hitting their mark and missing Ellie, despite her being to close to the target.

A vamp was coming up behind Ellie, her back turned and Mike was trying to hold off half a dozen trying to escape.Dr. LeBlond jumped forward, gripping the vampire on the shoulder and turning him around sharply.He growled, burying his face in the vamp’s neck, biting deeper and deeper until the body went slack in his hands.Dr. LeBlond doubted that would be enough to remove his debt from Ellie.She had turned as he made the kill.Her blood splattered smile said it all.She knew the vamp was coming up behind her.She just wanted him in the fight.

“Bloody hell!”The arrows stopped coming over, but then Mike bounded forward, taking off two escaping vampire’s heads in one powerful swing.Another vamp rushed forward and got punched in the the face while another came up behind, mouth open, and ripped into Mike’s wrist, expecting Mike’s grip to slacken.He was mistaken.The vamp was rewarded with being hit in the temple with the crossbow.As the vampire fell, Mike’s machete fell upon the vamp’s neck.

And then it was over.Ellie killed the last vamp with another clean blow.She looked around her, smug smile on her face, finally letting the arm holding her machete fall back to her side.

“Damn it,” Mike said, looking down at the bodies around Ellie and the doctor.“I should open with decapitation.”

*

With the chamber cleared of their presence, the three went their separate ways.The doctor, with the blood of his kin drying on his face, knew he would be rewarded for his loyalty to Ellie, but his face was paler than usual.But Ellie hadn’t given him a choice.

Empty arrows in the backpack slung over Mike’s shoulder, Ellie was free of any weapon.She ached all over, not that she wanted Mike to know that.But he did.He’d taken her bloodied machete without complaint and packed it away.Out of the corner of his eye, he watched her.Ellie’s make-up had been washed away from perspiration and the dark rings around her eyes were clear, even in the light of the torch as they made their way through the catacombs to the closest exit to their hotel.Instead of bringing it up, Mike said, “If you’re really going to England, we need to talk about your protection while there.”

Ellie didn’t say anything.She just lightly touched his arm and then stormed off ahead.She definitely wanted a shower now, but it would have to be cold.Cold to wash away the heat of the blood that seared her skin.

Mike followed close behind her, rambling on about her protection while she was in England and he remained on the continent, in charge until she returned.He said something about getting other hunters involved, but Ellie thought it too risky.Hunters hated demons more than anything and she had a hoard of them at her disposal.That didn’t go down too well with one hunter she bumped into and ended up killing.He’d thought she’d been a demon, too.No, she thought, mercenaries would be better and would ask less questions.


End file.
